Opportunity
by repmetsyrrah
Summary: After their failed elopement Sybil steals a moment alone with her fiancée. Short, reasonably plotless little ficlet for a Tumblr prompt.


**A/N:** moa-osen on Tumblr gave me a request for: _Tom and Sybil, pre-marriage/ post failed elopement find a way to go on a drive by themselves._

Aaaaand this probably isn't really that at all. I think the muse focused more on the 'find' part to be honest... Pretty quick and short, un-betaed.

**Opportunity**

* * *

"Sybil, dear, we're all going for a walk, would you like to come?"

Sybil looked up from her book as her mother walked into the library followed by her father and sisters, all dressed in the appropriate and current fashions for a walk through the finely groomed gardens of the estate.

She wouldn't have minded joining them really, but the opportunity was too good to let pass.

"I'm afraid I was just about to go into Ripon," she lied effortlessly, "the bookstore just sent word that I've an order ready to pick up."

"Perhaps I'll come," Mary suggested, fixing her sister with a hard look.

Because God forbid a woman be allowed any time at all with her fiancée.

"I can manage," Sybil assured her, "and I was going to call in on a friend after, an old nursing colleague, I'm afraid you'd be terribly bored."

"And I thought you said you'd love to come for a walk," Edith reminded her. Sybil shot her a grateful look, even though she knew Edith's main motivation was to irritate her older sister.

"We'll see you at dinner then," the Countess said, with a smile, completely oblivious to the silent argument that had just occurred.

As soon as they were out of sight Sybil slammed her book shut and walked down the path to the garage.

It had been two weeks since they'd had any time alone, her sisters watching them like hawks, constantly just behind her, whispering dire warnings and working relentlessly to attempt to change her mind.

She kept her promise to him though, she had no choice really, her heart belonged to Tom Branson and no amount of threats of ruin would ever change that simple fact.

She saw him before he noticed her, his broad-shoulders bent over the desk in the garage, probably noting extra parts that needed replacing or something he was running low on.

Almost immediately she felt some of the tension start to ebb and she couldn't help her mouth turning up into a smile, already looking forward to having his arms around her, helping her relax.

Her sisters were annoying but when they were together she was reminded it was only temporary, and the promise of a new life with him made anything she had to endure now more than bearable.

"Anything interesting?" she asked, surprised she had managed to walk right up behind him without him noticing. She giggled when he jumped slightly but he soon smiled when he realised who his intruder was and pulled her into a welcome kiss, not wasting any time with 'hello'.

"I missed you," she told him, once they broke apart, enjoying the way her words made him smile. It never ceased to amaze her how she could mean so much to someone that with only a few words she'd make his day.

It was the truth though, how he'd managed two whole years keeping himself in check baffled her. She had only managed by denying the truth. As soon as she had let herself accept she loved him it seemed like she could never spend enough time with him, never get enough of talking with him, never hear enough of his laugh, his voice... never taste enough of his kisses.

"This is very dangerous," he told her, after a few minutes, the warning losing some of its weight when it came out mumbled against her mouth.

Sybil gave a low moan as he left her lips and found a particularly sensitive spot near her ear. "I guess it would be wise to stop then."

"Very," Tom mumbled against her collar, his hands slipping from her waist and going lower than strictly appropriate down her back, pulling her body nearer to his.

"Yes," Sybil agreed, her own hands coming back up to pull his face towards her, catching his lips in her own again. "We really should."

"Stop," Tom agreed, kissing her again. "Good idea."

"Very good idea," Sybil agreed again, except this time she managed to pull away, straightening her dress and catching her breath.

"Let's go for a drive," she suggested, before he could say anything. "We can take the back roads." She grinned. "Maybe I'll get lonely there in the back seat. You might need to pull over and offer me some company."

Tom gave a low growl at the suggestion and the sound sent a shiver down Sybil's whole body. She pulled him in for another kiss, already imagining what more they could do, without the fear that Thomas or one of the hallboys would discover them any second.

They had put boundaries in place, and Tom respected them but Sybil had never realised just how much 'only kissing' could be.

And she had never anticipated that there would be times when she wouldn't want him to respect those boundaries. When she wished he'd disregard their rules and tear her corset off, or lift up her skirts and touch her where she truly wanted him to.

He always stopped though, whispering her promises of all that and more- _soon_. Not right then but later, in Ireland, with a ring on her finger and nothing to keep them apart ever again. And when she calmed down, and lay in bed later, re-living the moments, she knew deep down they would have regretted it.

It didn't mean what they did do wasn't fun though.

"To Ripon then," Tom said, when they finally managed to make it to the car.

"If you want," Sybil told him carelessly, leaning forward until she was close enough that her breath tickled his ear and made his hands tighten their grip on the wheel.

"It's not the _destination_ I care about," she assured him.

Yes, she thought, watching him flush and already feeling quite heated herself. It was rather terrific fun.


End file.
